When you’re a small business owner, it’s imperative to take on a lot of the tasks yourself, especially in the early stages of running a business. How many of us have found ourselves needing to do a little bit of finance, customer service, marketing or product development at any given point? Yet many small businesses owners try to take on too much themselves beyond the early stages of the business–sometimes more than they can chew.

Being a leader means knowing yourself well enough to know when you should take on a task, and when it makes more sense to hire someone or outsource. Here are some great questions to ask yourself in order to ensure you’re focusing on the right tasks in your business.

Is This Something I Love Doing?

Does learning about Google AdWords paid search best practices really excite you? Then, by all means, you should continue doing it beyond when your business can afford to hire someone or find another tool. Do you prefer pursuing a big sales deal or designing new products? Those are factors to consider. An easy question to ask yourself is, “is this something I’m passionate about and love doing?” Spend time doing what you love, or you’ll find yourself spending too much time doing what you don’t.

Is This A Task That Only I Can Do?

Many small business owners got into business because a particular area of expertise. As the boss, you may be the only one who can hire or fire employees, for instance. These are the kinds of tasks that it would make sense for only you to do. If not? For many of us, some self-reflection can help us see various places where someone else could step in. If possible, find a way to teach or hire someone else to do it.

By Not Outsourcing This Task, Am I Sacrificing Quality?

The perils of not outsourcing can in some cases include a poor job. Perhaps you like learning, but remember you are spending money to learn. For paid search marketing, optimization takes time even for experts. You can actually save on marketing by paying someone else to do it who will do it with enough efficiency to justify her cost.

By Not Outsourcing This Task, Is This Taking Time Away From Tasks Only I Can Do?

An important factor to consider when deciding whether a job/task should be for you, or if you should outsource, is whether a task you’re doing may be taking time away from another business task that’s in the critical path of profits. If you don’t have enough time to meet with investors because you’re swamped with mundane tasks you could’ve outsourced, you’ll find yourself frustrated and impede business growth.

Has outsourcing helped you in your business? Was it a crucial moment in your business growth when you decided to hire out help? We’d love to hear about it in the comments!

Sarah E. Brown is a digital marketer at PPCPath in Boulder, CO. PPCPath is the most cost-effective way to get better-performing AdWords campaigns. Follow @PPCPath on Twitter or visit http://www.ppcpath.com.